Hiram g



page own.

HIRAM G. SOULES, OF SYRACUSE, NEW YORK.

Letters Patent No. 91,576, dated June 22, 1869.

IM'PROVED ROOFING-COMPOUND.

The Schedule referred in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HIRAM G. Sounns, of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Roofing-Compound; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable those skilled in the art to make and use the same The following is a list of the ingredients used, and their relative proportions:

Four bushels of dry, sifted sand.

One and three-quarters bushel of dry, sifted clay.

One and one-half bushel of sifted air-slaked lime. One bushel of common cattle hair. Five pounds of tow, hemp, or other vegetable fibre. Two pounds sifted magnesia.

Two pounds pulverized sulphur.

One barrel of coal-tar.

All to be thoroughly mixed together, excepting the tar.

After the tar has boiled onehonr, the mixture is added by gradually sitting it in, taking one hour's time for adding the mixture to the tar.

The boiling is continued, and the compound constantly stirred for four hours, or until properly done, when it is rolled into sheets and allowed to cool.

To ascertain when the mixture is sufiioiently, cooked, take a small quantity out of the kettle, and pour it into a vessel containing water at'a temperature of 72, and on working the compound in the hands, if no tar comes off on to the hands, and if it is soft, pliable, and free from brittleness, it is done.

The hair and hemp are to give the roofing, tensile strength, the paper not having sutficient strengt-l1 for For covering the apex and body of very steep roofs, I add a portion of hemp in the form of cords, which are incorporated by stretching them over the face of the paper, longitudinally with the sheets, before the compound is applied, so that the cords are bedded within the compound as the roofing is manufactured, the said cords occupying the roofing at intervals of about five inches. 7

The magnesia and sulphur give the compound a finer texture, to preventthe coal-tar from evaporating,

so that the roofing undergoes, less change with age,

and has greater durability; and the lime, as also the sulphur and magnesia, give hardness.

The clay gives body and toughness in connection with the tar, and the sand gives body and makes the compound fire-proof.

For ordinary roofing, one of the two fibrous ingredients can be omitted, and but one used; but as the said ingredients add but little to the cost, I prefer to make the roofing uniformly of the composition stated, without regard to the kind of roof to which it is to be applied, the only variation being the employment or omission of the cords, according to circumstancesthe cords being used only where more than ordinary strength is required.

However, the relative proportions of the in gredients maybe changed somewhat, but the proportions given are those that I have established from experience as giving the best'results.

By these means, I obtain a roofing-compound that is quite free from brittleness, and of great endurance and strength.

Having thus described my invention,

\Vhat- I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A rooting-compound, composed of the within ingredients, in about the proportions mentioned.

The above specification of my invention, signed by me, this 18th day of March, 1869.

" HIRAM G. SOULES.

Witnesses WILLIS GIBBS, i F. A. MoRLnY. 

